Effective management of a patient's medication therapy is an important factor in achieving successful treatment results. The more closely a patient adheres to his or her prescribed medication treatment regimen, the more likely it is that the treatment will be effective. Unfortunately, in many instances patients do not adequately comply with their medication therapy regimens. Poor compliance with treatment regimens can result in negative health impacts for the patient as well as negative impacts on those who have an interest in maintaining the patient's health.
For many patients with chronic medical conditions, the key to successful treatment of their conditions is adherence to a doctor-prescribed regimen of prescription medications. However, the regimen often consists largely of taking medication every day (or multiple times per day) at home or wherever the patient may be. Additionally, as patients age, it is common for each patient to develop multiple chronic diseases. For example, an elderly man might be undergoing treatment for high blood pressure, diabetes, and prevention of a second heart attack. Thus, his treatment plan might require him to self-administer several drugs at different times of the day and get prescriptions filled on time. Often, regimen instructions are confusing, or the drugs cause unforeseen or uncomfortable side-effects. In other cases, the patient may have a history of non-compliance with his or her treatment regimen, based on any number of causes, such as difficulty in filling prescriptions, lack of adequate instruction, forgetfulness, etc. In any event, failure to comply with instructions or a prescription medication regimen may cause a preventable hospital admission or doctor visit. Failure to comply may also cause a doctor to change unnecessarily (or, conversely, not to change when necessary) the regimen based on insufficient or inaccurate information about a patient's compliance with the regimen. Whether the patient follows post-discharge instructions and appropriately uses the medications prescribed is largely unregulated by any healthcare provider, healthcare facility, or pharmacist.